ATHENA THE BRAIN

by Joan Holub; Suzanne Williams

  “You sure enjoy making waves,” Athena said, glaring at him.

  “Yep. As I told you yesterday, I like to win.” Poseidon flashed a grin.

  Medusa stepped between them, shooting Athena a mean look before turning to face him. “How did you ever build that wall so fast?” she asked him. “You’re sooo clever.”

  Poseidon beamed at her. “Aren’t I, though? But building a wall is easy. Watch.” Basking in her flattery, he began showing her how to construct a clay wall.

  Why, she’d deliberately drawn away Poseidon’s attention, Athena realized. Because she was jealous!

  It turned out that Medusa’s king was very powerful. He sent more heroes to help Odysseus, and before long, everyone’s heroes were fighting one another. Half of the class, including Aphrodite and Poseidon, had been assigned heroes on the Trojan team. They were all rooting for Paris’s side to win.

  The other half of the class, including Athena and Medusa, was part of the Greek team, rooting for Odysseus and King Menelaus’s side to win. Too bad Mr. Cyclops wouldn’t let Medusa and Aphrodite trade heroes, thought Athena. Then Medusa could work at Poseidon’s side, just the way she probably wanted, and Athena and Aphrodite could be on the same team.

  The fighting heated up. Suddenly Athena wasn’t worrying about her grades. Or about Mr. Cyclops. She was worrying about her hero!

  “We’ve got to find a way to end this battle,” she told her teammates.

  Medusa folded her arms. “I’m not giving in to Aphrodite, if that’s what you have in mind. I won’t be happy until my king gets Helen back from Paris.”

  “Okay then, I have another idea.” Athena opened her bag and pulled out the toy horse Pallas had stowed. Thank godness she’d been too tired to unpack last night.

  “Meet Woody,” she announced to the whole class, setting him just outside the gates of Troy. She pulled the red ribbon from her Hero-ology textscroll and tied it in a bow around his neck, as if he were a gift.

  “Why did you put him at our gates?” Poseidon asked suspiciously.

  “He’s a going-away present,” Athena replied casually.

  “A present?” Aphrodite echoed.

  Athena hated to fib to her new friend, but she wanted to win this game and do well in class just as much as Poseidon did–maybe even more so. She turned away and began loading her team’s heroes onto the little ship.

  “So you’re just going to give up?” asked Medusa, curling her lip in disgust.

  “At least it will end the fighting,” Athena said, loudly enough that everyone would hear.

  Then to Medusa and the rest of her team, she murmured softly, “Just trust me. I have a plan, but there’s no time to explain.”

  “Trust you?” hissed Medusa. “Ha! You’re just giving up because Aphrodite’s your friend. And because you’re crushing on Poseidon.”

  “That’s not it at all,” Athena whispered. The ship was full of heroes now, so she pushed it off to sail away toward the Mediterranean.

  Still looking like he smelled a rat, Poseidon nevertheless moved his hero figure toward the fortress gate.

  “Wait!” Aphrodite said. “Are you certain we want this gift?”

  “Sure, why not?” Before she could stop him, he opened the gate, grabbed Woody’s rope, and tugged him inside the walls. Then he slammed the gate shut again and locked it behind them.

  Ping! Ping! Ping!

  The whole class groaned–even Mr. Cyclops. Just when things were getting interesting, the period had ended. They would all have to wait till tomorrow to find out what would happen next.

  AFTER SCHOOL THAT DAY, ATHENA MET Aphrodite, Artemis, and Persephone on the coliseum field behind the academy for Goddessgirl Squad tryouts. Medusa, her sisters, and three dozen other goddessgirls and mortals were there trying out too, but Pandora had decided to go out for the flag marching team instead. Nearby, the godboys and goddessgirls on the Titans team were practicing for the Olympic games that would be held throughout the year.

  Athena snapped open her gold fans. Along with the entire group, she made pyramids and practiced spins and splits. For the past two hours, they’d all been learning dance moves and chants.

  Behold! Behold!

  We’re Fightin’ Titan BOLD!

  Behold! Behold!

  We’re Fightin’ Titan GOLD!

  When Coach Nike and her nine assistants, the Muses, began taking the girls in smaller clusters for the final squad tryouts, Athena decided to talk to Medusa. It wasn’t something she wanted to do, but perhaps if she explained about Woody and her Hero-ology plan, Medusa would stop seeing her as an enemy. Not that they’d ever be best friends!

  Athena waited until her group, Medusa’s group, and some others who weren’t up till the end went to the nectar fountain for drinks. Then Athena approached Medusa and her sisters.

  As she did, a soft cheer broke out among the triplets, stopping her cold. Everyone in the fountain line turned to look.

  “Give me an F!” chanted Medusa.

  “Give me an L!” chanted Sthenno.

  “Give me a Y!” chanted Euryale.

  “What’s that spell?” asked Medusa.

  “Athena’s mom!” her sisters shouted.

  Athena’s face turned red. But the horror wasn’t over.

  ZZZZZ. Making buzzing noises, the triplets whipped out flyswatters they’d tucked in their belts. They must’ve been planning this even before tryouts, Athena realized. How mean! Waving the swatters in choreographed moves, the girls launched into a little skit.

  “Got a headache! Me, oh my!”

  (Stomp, swat. Stomp, swat, swat.)

  “How to stop it? Swat that fly!”

  (Stomp, swat. Stomp, swat, swat.)

  Though they were too far away for the coach to hear, the other girls in the drink line could hear them just fine.

  “Stop picking on Athena,” said Artemis, stepping up to them.

  “Yeah,” said Aphrodite, joining her.

  “Nobody can help who their parents are,” said Persephone, standing alongside the other two to form a wall of goddessgirls between them and Athena.

  “C’mon, let’s go back to the others,” said Aphrodite. She, Artemis, and Persephone linked arms with Athena, and they headed back to the tryout area.

  “Thanks, you guys,” Athena told them, still a little shaken and pink faced.

  “Our pleasure,” said Aphrodite.

  “Yeah,” agreed Artemis.

  “Any time,” added Persephone.

  It was nice of them to stand up for her, thought Athena. Still, the mean skit had rattled her. And now it was their group’s turn to perform in the final tryouts. If she messed up, she’d ruin her new friends’ chances at making the GG Squad.

  Just as the four of them stepped up to try out, Poseidon threw his trident across the field. It soared in a high arc through the air, like a javelin.

  Quickly, on Aphrodite’s signal, the four goddessgirls launched into a chant:

  Boom Boom, thunderation,

  Send that trident on vacation!

  Woo-hoo!

  Athena and her friends swished their sparkly fans. Then, as one, they whispered, “Shift.” As they spoke each of them shape-shifted, sprouting a set of glossy white wings at their shoulder blades. Holding hands, they rose a dozen feet into the air. Gently flapping their wings, they held up six fans in alignment, each one painted with one letter of their school’s team name: TITANS.

  Then they swooped low toward the field again. As they touched down, like magic, their wings melted away. Shape-shifting had proven amazingly easy for Athena. She’d gotten it right on her third try. In fact, the GG Squad was turning out to be way more fun than she’d expected.

  As he retrieved his trident, pulling its prongs from where they’d stuck in the grassy field when it landed, Poseidon shot Athena a huge smile. “Thanks!”

  He’d thrown farther than any of the other godboys. Triumphant, he jogged back to his teammates.

  Meanwhile, Me
dusa turned to see who he’d smiled at. When she saw it was Athena, her green face turned a purple shade that was not at all attractive.

  “Godboy moocher!” she hissed when Athena drew near.

  “I didn’t mooch anything,” Athena protested in surprise. Did Medusa think she’d made up the cheer for Poseidon? It had been Aphrodite’s idea to show support for him and the whole Titan team.

  “Humph! We’ll see how you like it when the tables are turned!” Medusa stormed off. Her sisters followed, glaring at Athena.

  Athena turned to her friends. “What did she mean by that?”

  “Who knows?” said Aphrodite. “But take my advice and try to stay out of her way. She aces Revenge-ology every year.”

  “And she’s in the accelerated class,” Artemis noted worriedly.

  “What a mess,” said Persephone.

  “Yeah,” agreed Athena, shaking her head in bewilderment. “Medusa’s crushing on Poseidon, and she thinks he’s crushing on me.”

  Aphrodite gave her an exasperated look. “She’s right–he is. Trust me, I have a sense about matters of the heart. Poseidon’s probably never come across a girl who didn’t fall for him right away. That’s why he’s trying so hard with you. You’re a challenge!”

  “He just likes to flirt!” objected Athena. “With every girl in sight!”

  Artemis rolled her eyes. “All this yucky romance stuff is going to make me barf. Since we’re finished, I’m gonna go get my dogs some chow.” She headed over to unleash them from the stone bleachers.

  Now that the last group had finished trying out, Coach Nike and the nine Muses left the field to tally the results and decide who’d made the Goddess Squad. They told everyone that the results would be posted later in the week.

  “Hey!” someone shouted, as the godboys on the field finished their practice. “I just heard that our Trojan and Greek heroes are fighting it out in Hero-ology without us!”

  “This I have to see!” said Athena. She, Aphrodite, and several others raced to Mr. Cyclops’s classroom. The shades had been pulled at the end of the day, leaving the room dim. Sure enough, their heroes were duking it out within the gates of Troy.

  Athena’s wooden horse still stood inside the fortress, but now the little door in its side was open. It had been so well concealed that no one on the Trojan team had noticed it–until now.

  Poseidon peeked inside the door. “A secret compartment!”

  “Well, what do you know?” said Aphrodite. Her eyes widened in surprise.

  “The horse wasn’t a gift at all. It was a trick, wasn’t it?” said Poseidon.

  “Yep,” said Athena. “You see, not all our heroes got aboard the ship that sailed away during class. I hid Odysseus and a few others inside the horse. While we were out on the field, they staged a sneak attack and stole Helen. They sent her back to King Menelaus in Sparta.”

  Poseidon looked shocked that he’d been bested by a girl, but Athena didn’t care. She turned toward Aphrodite. “I’m sorry I spoiled your plans for Paris and Helen’s happily-ever-after.”

  “That’s okay,” said Aphrodite, shrugging. “It’s just a class assignment. I think your idea was clever!”

  “No hard feelings?” asked Athena.

  “Of course not,” said Aphrodite. “This is the most exciting thing to happen in Hero-ology since first grade. When Mr. Cyclops hears about your ruse, he’ll be dancing in his sandals.”

  “If he can find them, that is,” someone joked. As was widely known, their teacher liked to kick off his sandals in class, and he always seemed to be losing them.

  As she left the room, Athena decided that her second day at MOA had been a whole lot better than her first. Her trick in Hero-ology had worked, she’d done well in the GG Squad tryouts, and despite Medusa and her sisters’ embarrassing fly routine, she now had friends to come to her rescue. She smiled to herself. It was just possible that this day marked a turning point in her new life at Mount Olympus Academy.

  ONE OF MY INVENTIONS IS MISSING,” ATHENA said the next morning as she pawed through the papers on her dorm room desk.

  “Which one?” asked Aphrodite. Studying her reflection in Athena’s mirror, she tried out different ways of tying the belt on her blue-and-silver-patterned chiton. She and Artemis had come to hang out with Athena until it was time for their first class. Pandora had left early, saying she needed to drop off some scrolls at the library before classes started.

  “I named it Snarkypoo,” said Athena, as she continued to search.

  A giggle burst from Artemis before she could smother it. “Snarkypoo? That’s the goofiest name I ever heard!” Her dogs snuffled too, almost as if they were laughing along with her.

  Athena ignored them. She stuck her head in the bottom of her closet, then opened every drawer in her desk, and even flipped over her mattress. Finally she gave a frustrated huff and dropped into her chair. “It was right here on my desk. What could’ve happened to it? The Invention Fair is tomorrow!”

  Aphrodite peered over Athena’s shoulder at the jumble of papers and scrolls on her desk. “I almost hate to ask, but what exactly is Snarkypoo?”

  “Just shampoo. After someone uses it, any snarky words they think of turn to stone in their brain before they can be spoken.” Athena grinned slightly. “I invented it with Medusa in mind.”

  “I like it!” said Aphrodite. Leaning closer, she pointed to a word on the list Athena had made of all her inventions. “But didn’t you misspell it?”

  “Oh, no!” said Athena, after bending closer to examine her list. “You’re right! I wrote Snakeypoo by mistake.”

  Artemis and her dogs laughed again.

  Athena glared at them. “It’s not funny.” Then she found herself chuckling too. “Well, I guess it is a little. But what could’ve happened to it?” She ducked under her desk, digging through her bag for a third time.

  “Maybe it slithered away,” Aphrodite teased.

  Athena stood again, shaking her head. “No, it couldn’t have done that. At least I don’t think it could.” She frowned thoughtfully. “Actually, I don’t really know because I haven’t tested it yet. It may not even work at all.”

  “Yikes! It’s eight thirty,” Artemis said, glancing out the window at the giant sundial in the school courtyard. It was fifteen feet in diameter and could be seen from almost every window on this side of the school.

  “Ye gods! We’d better get going,” said Athena. Grabbing their stuff, the three girls hurried down the hall.

  As they took the stairs down to the classroom levels, Athena noticed a gleaming white marble statue at the bottom of the main staircase. It was a girl, about five feet tall, with long, flowing hair, wearing a chiton. “Is that statue new?”

  “I’ve never seen it before,” said Artemis.

  “Me either,” said Aphrodite.

  Just then Persephone stepped from behind it. “Hi,” she said, greeting them.

  Athena jumped. “Oh! You scared me.” Persephone’s skin and white chiton were so pale that for a second, Athena had thought she might be another marble statue, coming to life.

  “Sorry,” said Persephone, turning to survey the statue. “I’ve been looking all over this thing, but there’s no artist’s signature on it anywhere. Who do you think made it?”

  “Could it be Zeus’s work?” suggested Aphrodite.

  “I seriously doubt it,” said Athena. Zeus was a terrible artist, and this statue was so lifelike it seemed real. So real that it gave her the creeps.

  “It looks familiar, though, don’t you think?” said Artemis, cocking her head as she contemplated it. On either side of her, her dogs cocked their heads and stared at the statue too.

  Before Athena could study the statue more carefully, the lyrebell pinged. The girls split up, saying quick good-byes as they dashed for their classes.

  Athena grew a bit concerned when Medusa was absent from Hero-ology. “Something’s up,” she told Aphrodite. “I don’t know what, but I have a bad feel
ing about that statue.”

  On the way down the hall to their second classes, Athena and Aphrodite saw that a crowd, which already included Persephone and Artemis, had gathered around the new statue. Everyone was speculating about who might have sculpted it.

  As the two goddessgirls drew closer, unease swept over Athena. In the middle of its forehead, the statue’s bangs were shaped like a question mark. She gasped. She must have been blind not to notice that before! “This statue looks just like . . . ,” she began.

  “Pandora!” Aphrodite finished for her.

  “We just figured that out too,” said Artemis.

  Persephone frowned. “I have first period with Pandora, and she wasn’t in class this morning.”

  “That’s odd. Medusa wasn’t in class either,” said Athena. “I wonder if the two absences are connected?” Suddenly she heard a strange hissing sound. She turned to see Medusa standing directly behind her. She was wearing a hat.

  “Oh, there you are,” Athena said. “Have you seen Pandora?”

  “No,” Medusa replied, a little too innocently. “Wow, that statue looks just like her, doesn’t it?” Only she didn’t really sound surprised. There was something fakey in her voice. Or was it snakey?

  “Why weren’t you in Mr. Cyclops’s class?” Aphrodite demanded.

  Medusa smiled slyly. “I was doing my hair.” She adjusted the large hat she was wearing.

  Athena stared at it. “Is your hat . . . wiggling!?”

  “Yep.” With a dramatic flourish, Medusa whipped the hat off. Instead of hair, her head now writhed with hissing green snakes. The crowd of students recoiled in horror.

  “Ye gods!” exclaimed Athena, jumping back.

  “You took Athena’s Snakeypoo, didn’t you?” Artemis accused.

  At the mention of the silly name, laughter rippled over the onlookers.

  “It’s not Snakeypoo. It’s Snarkypoo!” Athena corrected, feeling a little embarrassed.

  “Looks like snakes to me,” said Persephone, eyeing Medusa’s hair.

  “It’s one of my inventions–a shampoo,” Athena explained. “Anyway, I didn’t know it would do”–she gestured toward the snakes–“that.”